Marijuana Party celebrates successful campaign

By
Dana Larsen
on November 28, 2000

Canada’s 73 Marijuana Party candidates are celebrating across the country as the November 27 election results vindicated their campaign efforts. Marijuana Party candidates established themselves as a viable alternative to the Green Party, and solidly out performed other “fringe” parties like the Canadian Action Party, Natural Law and Communists.
Party leader Marc-Boris St Maurice received 2156 votes (5% of the total) in his Quebec riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie, beating the NDP, PC and Alliance candidates, and coming within 14 votes of the Green Party. Nine other Quebec candidates also beat out the NDP, and the Marijuana Party also outperformed the Greens in a half-dozen ridings. Marijuana Party candidates outranked Canadian Action Party in every riding they both ran, and soldily outdid the Natural Law and Communist parties, achieving 8-20 times their vote totals. Except for Dana Larsen in West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast, the top ten ranked candidates were all located in Quebec.

Candidates generally received 3-4% of the vote, typically ranging from 700-1200 votes per riding, with a low of 387 votes and a high of 2156.

“I am very happy with these election results,” said Western Party Coordinator Marc Emery. “Now we must continue our political uprising. We will form provincial and municipal Marijuana Parties, and the BC Marijuana Party is now getting underway and preparing for a Spring election. We will form federal constituency associations and advocate for local pot culture. We are the political representatives of Canada’s cannabis culture, and we have a reponsibility towards the thousands who did vote for us.”

Canada’s Marijuana Party is one of many new political pot-parties that have formed around the world.

In England it’s called the UK Legalize Cannabis Alliance. In New Zealand, it’s called the Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party. In Israel it’s the Green Leaf Party. In the Australian states of New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria it’s the HEMP Party. In New York it’s the Marijuana Reform Party, and in New Jersey it’s the Legalize Marijuana Party. Everywhere it is the same phenomenon – marijuana activists lifting themselves from beneath the jack-boot of oppression and carrying their joints like torches of freedom into federal elections.

The torch of Canada’s Marijuana Party was sparked by the efforts of Marc-Boris St-Maurice, who founded Quebec’s Bloc Pot. The Bloc Pot won over 10,000 votes in Quebec’s 1998 election, enough to get them some government subsidies for their future campaigns. Through the efforts of countless other activists and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Party took shape.

Marc Emery plans to continue raising marijuana awareness in the upcoming BC provincial elections, by the formation of the BC Marijuana Party. Having honed their skills in federal race, the provincial candidates should have a vivid presence in BC’s spring election.